


Trouble Is A Friend

by Hudstrige1



Series: Requests [1]
Category: Andi Mack - Fandom
Genre: Amber is nice in this I promise, BoyxBoy, Cyrus's parents, Gay, Jonah's parents, M/M, Physical Abuse, psychological abuse, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2018-12-05 16:38:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11581992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hudstrige1/pseuds/Hudstrige1
Summary: In this one shot, Jonah and Cyrus are soulmates, and how they find out is wild from start to finish





	Trouble Is A Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to lizzielizzie12 on Tumblr for requesting this!  
> Find me at my blog heyoricohannah to request things (Jyrus, gallavich, jonnor) and I'll get around to writing them! <3

Janet and Stephen Beck are what you would call a bit on the conservative side.  
So conservative in fact, that they've decided to leave their hometown of Salt Lake, Utah, when they learned that their baby boy Jonah, would soon learn later in his life that his soulmate is a boy.  
Individuals that are born with soulmates, have a one specific mark on their body. Their one and only soulmate has that same exact mark in that exact same place. Starting in early pubescent years, when one soulmate feels physical pain, their soulmate, as far away as they may be, feels that same pain in that same moment in time.  
If one grows sad, the other feels an unexpected wave of alertness and worry.  
If one is happy, the other turns ecstatic. And so on. By any means, it is truly impossible for these marks to be removed.  
In the residence of his Arizonan home, fourteen year-old Cyrus Goodman sits on the bed he should be packing up, staring at the clear colored, straight lined mark on his right calf.  
"Cyrus! Are you packing?!" Jessica, his psychiatrist mother calls from the downstairs of their home that they'll soon be leaving behind.  
"Yeah Mom..." He speaks hesitantly, trying to turn his eyes away.  
He knows it's better to go than to keep procrastinating with worry.

"Mom?"  
"Yes, baby?"  
Cyrus sits in the back seat of the family car, studying his mother Cynthia sit in the passenger's seat, next to his Dad Damon who's focusing on the long drive ahead of them.  
"Do you think I'll find a soulmate?"  
Hearing her son's question turns her eyes bleak. She knows who that soulmate is, she just doesn't know how they're possibly going to be brought together under such drastic circumstances. Then again, if they are soulmates, which they are, then they can overcome anything.  
Which they will.  
"Of course, honey. Your time to meet them just hasn't came yet."  
"Sometimes I feel like I'll never meet them..."  
"You will, son." Damon speaks up. "Your mother and I didn't meet until after college, remember?"  
Too tongue tied, Cyrus says nothing.  
"And remember, it's almost impossible for you to finish life without having of met them."  
"Yeah..." That 'almost' doesn't sit with the child too well.  
He returns his gaze down to his right trouser covered leg, staring directly at where his mark is located underneath.  
He still hasn't figured out how he's possibly going to tell them that he's fairly certain his soulmate will end up turning out to be a boy.  
Except they already know.  
Cynthia Goodman and Janet Beck were good friends throughout high school and college. They were there for each other when they discovered their own soulmates, and had even got married within the same year.  
Two years after that, they both had their first child's just four months apart.  
Jonah Beck, and Cyrus Goodman.  
With Jonah only almost five months old, when Cyrus was taken home from the hospital, they came to the shocking discovery that both boys had the same mark. In the exact same place.  
Janet was outraged.  
Her narrow way of thinking somehow led her to believe it was Cynthia's fault. Like this sort of thing could be controlled. She didn't want her son being gay, or even bisexual.  
She demanded that Cynthia never approach their  family with her baby. That she was moving away with Jonah and her husband Stephen, and would go as far as to file a restraining order if it meant the Goodman's wouldn't follow.  
She didn't understand. Strangely for someone with a soulmate, she doesn't understand how soulmates work herself.  
They haven't spoken in almost fifteen years.  
Homophobia tore apart a sacred friendship.  
Cynthia and Damon are certain that Cyrus and Jonah will meet somehow, someway, because they're moving exactly to where Stephen and Janet ran off to.  
Good old Salt Lake City.

It took them over eleven hours to arrive to Salt Lake, arriving around noon the next morning since they had left in the middle of the previous afternoon.  
With not even half the furniture set up or boxes unpacked yet, Cynthia and Damon take Cyrus with them to do their food shopping; for the only food they could have taken with them being an eco friendly bag of trail mix and bananas.  
The fourteen year-old is bored out of his mind for the first half of the spree; being asked if he'd eat this or that, or being requested to carry certain things when the cart grew to heavy. Until things grow rather entertaining, when Cynthia drops a cantaloupe at the sight of Janet Beck shopping twenty feet away from them.  
"Mom...?" Cyrus grows embarrassed at the scene she's causing.  
"Honey-" Damon touches her shoulder, and it's of course not enough to stop her from strutting all the way over there.  
She knew connections would be made and confrontations would have happened; she didn't expect it to be so soon. So she might as well get it over with.  
" _What_ do you think you're doing here," Janet shrilly whispers to Cynthia once they're now just inches apart.  
"Oh, just doing a little shopping, how about you?" Her hands reach for her hips.  
"I'm _talking_ about _Utah._ You _know_ I told you and your husband to never come here."  
Janet knows what, or more importantly who, and who this has always been about.  
Their boys.  
"They're _bound_ to meet someday, Janet."  
"That's _not_ the plan, here."  
"No Janet that's not _your_ plan. And just because it's not _your_ plan, not your _way,_ you have to risk your own _son_ finding true love."  
"Don't _call_ it that. They're _children_." Janet cringes.  
"That doesn't mean they're going to be lovers right away. A soulmate is a soulmate. Whether they're together right after their first encounter or ten years afterwards.  
You and Stephen didn't start dating until a _year_ after you met." She has to explain to her. The universe never fails at bringing two soulmates together." Cynthia needs to harshly but lowly explain to her.  
"Dad, who is that woman?" Cyrus whispers to Damon who's trying to eagerly clean up the cantaloupe.  
"Just an old friend, son..." Maintenance finally shows up to help them.  
"Well they're not _talking_ like old friends..." He observes their intense body language and hand gestures. He can tell by how their mouths are moving that the conversation isn't friendly.  
"Thank you," the janitor is thanked in a haste by Damon, before pulling Cyrus and the cart away as best as he can. Everything happening so quickly, Cyrus almost drops his own personal pineapple.  
"Let's _go_ , honey" he grunts to Cynthia, whisking her away before Cyrus can hear another word of their feuding, leaving him in charge of the cart.

"I'm nervous about tomorrow..." Cyrus hates to admit to Cynthia, face scrunched up with embarrassment and stomach clenched with nausea. He sits in his new bed that sits in his new room, within the new house that will hopefully and eventually feel like their new home.  
"Oh, honey," she stands over her bed, had been telling him goodnight. "You'll do _great_ at Jefferson."  
"I don't know..." he brings the covers closer to his face in a nervous manner.  
"They are gonna _love_ you."  
"It's the _eighth_ grade. Not many people are the most accepting..." he bitterly recalls the memories at his past school.  
She hopes the kiss to his forehead will calm his nerves. "I have a feeling you're going to meet someone _very_ special."  
She's dug around. She knows that that's where Jonah attends, so that's where she's having Cyrus attend too.  
"Thanks, Mom..." While he doesn't think so, he's glad she's having some sort of faith.  
"Sleep well baby."  
He remembers to ask the almost forgotten but important question, when she's almost out the doorway.  
"And Mom?" He sits up.  
"Yes?" She turns around.  
"Who was that woman...? At the store?"  
By the darkening of her profile he can tell that it was nobody good.  
"It's better that it doesn't concern you, honey. Things are going to happen the way they need to."  
"Okay..." He doesn't exactly know what to get from that.  
"Love you," she repeats, now stepping out into the hall and having the door close.  
With one long sigh, Cyrus reaches over and turns out his lamp, before turning away and attempting to sleep.  
Instead of dreams, all that fills in his head are questions and more anxiety.

Cynthia may have been able to find out that Jonah did in fact attend Jefferson, but what she did not manage to find out, was that Janet was going to happen to be Cyrus's future gym teacher.  
And because of that, Mrs. Beck isn't too nice to him.  
" _Goodman!_ Get in the game!" She demands to a lonely and insecure Cyrus who hides in the corner.  
"Uhhhhh..." He shakes at the intense game of dodgeball going on in front of him.  
The loud blow of her whistle sends him running into the game with a rebel yell.  
That yell stops instantly when a ball sends him falling onto the hard cold floor.  
The game comes to a full stop, and most of the guys are snickering while everyone is gazing down at him.  
" _Walk it off,_ Goodman!" She yells out from across the room, while he moans in pain, feeling his head.  
"I can't even get up!" He protests, until two are helping him up.  
"Whoa, thanks" he smiles at the two girls helping him stand alone.  
"You guys are all jerks," Andi Mack says to the kids who thought Cyrus's injury was a laughing matter.  
" _Yeah,_ " agrees Buffy Driscoll, but isn't done there. "So get out of here before I _kick your-!"_  
The whistle blows. "Buffy! You and Andi take Goodman to the nurse."  
"My name is Cyrus..."

"Um, thanks for standing up for me..."  
Standing in-between the two girls, he keeps his balance while they help him walk to the nurse's.  
"No biggie. And think of it this way. You got out of class!" Buffy shrugs.  
"True." Cyrus chuckles.  
"We're sorry Mrs. Beck was so hard on you. She's usually very strict." Andi feels for him.  
"It's okay. It's weird, actually." He decides to open up.  
"What?" Buffy wants a continuation.  
"My parents and I just moved here. At the store yesterday, I'm pretty sure we _saw_ Beck. Her and my Mom had some sort of altercation." He explains.  
"So she's taking it out on you," Buffy finishes.  
"That's the thing, though. Something didn't just _happen_  that made them start fighting. My Mom, she, walked up to her. And that's when it started. It's--it's like she _recognized_ her."  
"Maybe she was the mean girl in your Mom's gym class that always bullied her." Andi suggests, as they walk into the front office where the nurse's is located in the back.  
Although Cyrus does chuckle, his mind can't help but explore the unfortunate coincidence.  
"I think it's more than that..."  
On their way out and walking back through the office with an ice pack held to his head, Cyrus perks up at the flyer he sees hanging from the bulletin board.  
"Frisbee?" He wonders.  
"You wanna sign up?" Buffy asks.  
"Yeah!"  
"I can give you the sheet," the secretary at the front desk offers him.  
"Okay! I'll come get them before I get picked up." He beams.  
Andi and Buffy smile at each other.  
"Y'know Mrs. Beck may be a total killjoy, but her son is apart of the frisbee team, and is _really_ nice. Hard to believe she's actually his _mother._ " Andi lets Cyrus know on the way back to the gymnasium.  
While Cyrus is laughing along with them, he has no idea that Andi is actually talking about his soulmate--  
Jonah Beck.

When Cynthia asks Cyrus at the bar of their kitchen if he made any friends that day, he's all smiles even with the sandwich in his mouth.  
"Yeah! They're two girls named Andi and Buffy."  
"Buffy, huh?" Damon asks, getting up from the table and walking over to them. "After the vampire slayer? That was a great show back in the nineties."  
"Okay," Cyrus chortles, not caring at all and taking another bite of his food.  
At her husband, Cynthia scoffs and shakes her head.  
Not finishing it within a few minutes, offers to them "Any of you wanna finish this?"  
Cynthia offers, turning the plate towards her and taking a bite.  
"Oh, by the way," Cyrus decides to bring this up now. "My gym teacher, I'm pretty sure she was the woman you were confronting yesterday."  
Damon has to pat Cynthia's back while she hacks up the sandwich.  
"Also can I join the frisbee team?" He adds on, blinking innocently.

"How was your day baby?" Janet asks Jonah as he strolls through their kitchen, herself being too focused on the dishes to look in his direction.  
"Pretty good for the most part. My head kinda hurt for a bit."  
She drops a plate she was scrubbing back into the sink, eyes darkening and posture freezing.  
"Mom, it's _fine_ ," Cyrus doesn't see the big deal.  
"I know...I know..." She turns around timidly and observes his figure. Right now, she has a headache herself.  
A knock on the front door sounds, and Jonah frowns. "Who's that?"  
"Oh, I told Amber she could come over."  
"Oh..."  
He hesitantly walks over to the door, and there she is standing on their porch with a forced smile.  
"Hey...!"  
"Hi..." He smiles wearily, walking over and sharing an awkward hug.  
"Wanna walk to the park?" She offers afterwards.  
"Yeah! Yeah."  
"Oh, Jonah! You should bring your frisbee." Janet brings up, rushing over to retrieve it from the hall closer.  
"Why..." He holds back an eye roll.  
"Just so you can practice," she strolls over and firmly sets it in his hand. Amber tensely notices his dense look.  
"You two kids have fun."  
They'll most certainly _try._  
On the way out, Jonah discreetly leaves the frisbee behind within their garage.  
"She's just so _annoying_ with all this frisbee crap" he's ranting to Amber at the park, the two walking over to their usual bench.  
"Yeah, I can see that..." The girl uncomfortably bites her bottom lip before they both sit down.  
"Can't you just, like, tell her to stop?" She knows her question is foolish.  
"You don't know my Mom, Amber."  
"I think I do..." She gazes away.  
Jonah frowns and shakes his head. "You _don't_. No one does...I don't understand how she has a _soulmate."_  
"Jonah don't say that."  
"It's _true!_ " He spreads his arms. He releases a huff, and leans on her shoulder. "I just don't want to think about it..."  
She hesitantly rubs his back in comfort. "What about your Dad? Can't you confine in him?" She questions.  
"He's rarely ever around...And even if I did say something, it's not like I would win...He's her _soulmate."_  
Despite having one of his own, he's starting to hate that word.  
When the time comes around, Amber has to leave, but forgets her purse in the process.  
"Amber wait!" He sits up on the bench, but the farther she jogs off the less she hears him.  
Curiosity gets the best of him, and when he opens the purse he finds over three hundred dollars in cash.

The first thing he hears when arriving home is the sound of his own name.  
His expression shows misery when Janet walks into the living room with the frisbee in her hand.  
"You 'left' this in the garage again."  
"Ugh, how'd you _know?"_ He whines. He's tired physically and psychologically, just needing to sleep. The homework he still has to do isn't helping.  
"I've picked up on your little 'spot'." Her arms cross. "You can't keep doing this, Jonah."  
"Doing _what?!_ Not wanting to practice _throwing a disk_ for every five minutes in my life like you make me?!"  
" _Jonah-"_  
"You _let_ me hang out with Amber. You _insisted_. You _invited_ her over."  
"She's your _soulmate_ , Jonah. Of _course_ I did."  
After that a long pause fills the air.  
"Is that her purse..." she's squinting down at what he holds. "Did you _steal_ that from her?"  
"What-- _No!"_ He yells out once the accessory is snatched from him, unable to believe she'd think such a thing.  
"I'll take that." She eyes him down skeptically.  
He stomps upstairs without another word with Janet's eyes piercing into his back, the sound of his door understandably slamming having her clench the purse tight in her hand.  
Because of Jonah's own distress, Cyrus goes to bed on the verge of tears that night.

"Guys, I don't know where they are in this world, but what I _do_ know, is that my soulmate is in terrible, _terrible_ pain." Cyrus expresses to Andi and Buffy as they stroll down the halls the next morning.  
"Aw," Andi pouts. "Are you _sure?_ "  
"Yes. I was in _terrible_ psychological pain all evening yesterday."  
"Aw, Cyrus! They are out there and are most _definitely_ hurting!" Andi exclaims.  
"Or it could be clinical depression," Buffy considers, and she's glared at by the female beside her.  
" _Buffy!_ "  
"Well, on a lighter note, my parents said I could join the frisbee team so I turned in the papers they signed!" He beams to them.  
"Cyrus! That's _awesome!"_ The two girls high five him. Because of that joyous moment, the three walk into class in harmony.

Because of those gleeful moments, Jonah feels a sudden spring of joy while on his way to Grant High School with Amber's purse in tow.  
"Hi..." They meet up near the bike rack in the parking lot.  
"Hey...Uh, you left your purse at the park." He sets it in her hand.  
"Sorry. My mom needed me home."  
"Yeah..." He can tell something isn't sitting with her well. But his same feelings aren't the usual soulmate connection like he thought it was.  
"Can I ask you something?"  
The blood drains away from her face. "Yeah..."  
"I know it was wrong, but I opened your purse and I--"  
"Jonah _why would you do that--_ " she might just tear up.  
"I know I shouldn't have, I _swear_. But, I found a bunch of money in there. Where have you been getting it?"  
"Jonah I'm sorry but I gotta get to class" she begins to walk away, but Jonah's words stop her dead in her tracks.  
"You're not my soulmate, are you, Amber..."  
It takes her a few seconds just to turn around.  
"I'm sorry, _okay?"_ She wipes a few tears. "Sh-she's been paying me-"  
" _Why_ would she make me believe you were my soulmate...?" His voice cracks.  
Their families were always close. Janet picked her out; doing her best to persuade Amber's mother.  
This caused tension between them. But threats were made, and so were deals. She was so desperate to tell a lie that she paid them what they could.  
"Who's your _real_ soulmate?" Jonah questions her.  
"I don't have a soulmate, Jonah."  
"Y-yes you do, Amber. Y-you have a mark on your back, just like I do."  
"I don't _have_ a mark, Jonah..." She steps closer to him.  
"I'm sorry..." With a quick kiss to his cheek, she reaches for her purse. "Here," she starts handing him the money.  
"I don't _want_ your money!"  
"It's not _mine_ it's your _Mom's!"_ She shoves it in his hands anyway.  
"What?" Amber whispers in disbelief, recounting all the money she had. "There was supposed to be three fifty in there."  
"There's only one hundred and fifty," Jonah checks, before coming to the realization. "Shoot. She took the purse from me yesterday and claimed _I_ was stealing..."  
"Well it's _her_ money anyway--y-you know? I gotta go, I'm sorry Jonah..."  
" _Wait!_ Do you know who _my_ soulmate is?! _Amber! Please_..." There's desperation in his tone and in his eyes.  
Shedding a tear and wanting to answer him but knowing she can't, Amber says nothing, and time he can't stop her.  
" _Amber?"_  
He rips up the crumpled bills and stomps over them on his way out.  
For all he cares, all of the money Janet has can rot.  
For the rest of the day, Jonah is so upset and confused, that Cyrus is feeling the exact same way. Especially at the end of the day, when Jonah's being forced into after school frisbee again.  
Neither of them had gym that day, which they were very grateful for. Except Jonah still has to deal with Janet at home.  
"My soulmate is a _very_ angry person," Cyrus says to his new friends.  
"Bipolar?" Buffy wonders, and Andi hits her arm.  
"Cyrus Goodman?" The same secretary from yesterday asks, walking up him to him with his own jersey.  
" _What-?!_ _Oh!_ Hi hello I'm so sorry." He's in desperate search for forgiveness.  
"I'm happy to tell you that you've made the space otters frisbee team!"  
"That's _awesome!_ " He happily gawks, as Andi and Buffy swoon.  
"Space otters?" He then asks with confusion.  
"Here's your jersey, and practice is out on the field from three fifty to four thirty."  
"Okay! Awesome! _Thank_ you!"  
Although he is on his way to one of the places he dreads most, Jonah is relieved to feel some sort of sudden relief in his heart.  
And to know that is soulmate is somewhere out there.  
His soulmate who isn't Amber because Janet paid her to pretend to be. But he's just gonna try to ignore that part.

When Cyrus and Jonah make eye contact from across the field, it's like they're both realizing something. It's like the universe is demanding that Jonah run over there and go talk to him, and he does.  
"Hey..."  
"Hi," Cyrus smiles.  
"Uh, I take by your shirt you're probably a new member?"  
"Yeah" Cyrus chuckles.  
"Cool..." He's unable to stop staring into his eyes.  
"Uh, y-you ever play before?"  
"Oh, not in a few years, no. But I think it's _so_ cool that there's a frisbee team here, you know?"  
"Yeah, haha, my Mom kinda started it."  
"Well she seems super cool." He's not aware yet that he's Jonah Beck, the one with the crazy mother.  
"I'm Jonah."  
"Oh," he then realizes, but he can't fake a smile for too long while looking at him. "I-I'm Cyrus."  
"Let's put your skills to the test, Cyrus."  
Happy he's being acknowledged by the one and only Jonah Beck but is still nervous he'll mess up like a total idiot, Cyrus's smile shows mixed emotions.  
"Everyone!" Jonah announces to the rest of the team who's arriving. "Pair up with a partner and practice. I'll be practicing with Cyrus."  
The two smile at each other.  
He's happy to learn that Jonah isn't so great at frisbee, himself.  
Jonah didn't think it could happen, but he's realized that Cyrus is the only person that can make him enjoy frisbee.  
They smile and joke around, and are laughing almost the entire time.  
After practice, after everyone has left, they're still talking to each other on field. Cyrus had texted Cynthia he'll be walking home.  
"Do you have a cell?" Jonah asks him.  
Cyrus's face is flushed to no end. "Y-yeah...!"  
"Here," Jonah starts, running over to get his bag where his phone is held.  
"Put it in" he encourages. "U-unless you don't have it memorized."  
"Oh, no, I do," Cyrus smiles, body still experiencing aftershocks as he clumsily types in his number. Jonah is smiling at him the whole time.  
"Here," Cyrus hands it back to him feeling lightheaded.  
"Thanks." He grins at him.  
In the middle of laughing at each other, a car door is being slammed.  
" _JONAH!"_  
Both boys flinching, they look over with complete horror at Janet standing beside her newly parked car, standing in the lot thirty feet away.  
"Oh God..." Jonah's already whispering in fear, sweating tremendously and heart almost giving out on him.  
An anxious and pitiful Cyrus is about to touch his back with comfort, when the boy is being pulled away by no one other than his abusive mother.  
"Let's go!"  
"Mom-" he's trembling.  
" _Now!"_  
"W-well maybe Cyrus needs a ride home...?" He's staring at him with pure hope, and Cyrus just might cry at how much they're latching onto one another.  
"No. _No_ rides. I'm sure _Cyrus_ can find his own way home."  
Jonah's phone has already been snatched away with him, already a few dragged steps towards their car.  
Tears already in his eyes, Cyrus's own soul is crushed, when he sees no short straight white line on Jonah's back right calf, like his very own.  
He runs all the way home in complete agony, something that Jonah is certainly feeling on his own way home.

It only gets worse when Cyrus is home. Cynthia, who was texted not to pick him up until told, hesitantly enters his room over ten minutes after she and Damon had witnessed him run up to his room crying.  
"Cyrus what's wrong?" She's appalled to see him sobbing in such a way, red and sweaty on his the floor before his bed.  
"I-I don't _get it_ M-Mom," he stutters, managing to sit up but is still hyperventilating.  
"Is is this possible? _Is_ this possible?"  
"Is _what_ possible, baby?" She kneels down  before him with broken eyes.  
"I-I _want_ him to be my soulmate but he's _not,_ and I _know_ he's a he but-"  
"Who, honey? Who."  
"His name's Jonah Beck. She's on the frisbee team..." He wipes his tears.  
Cynthia's sigh is relieved but still dramatic. "Oh, _honey..."_ she starts.  
"B-but he doesn't have the mark! I _checked!_ "  
"What mark?"  
He weakly points to the line on his calf, which Cynthia simply shakes her head at. "Oh, Cyrus, we thought you knew..."  
"Knew what?"  
When Cyrus is shown where his mark really is, all hope is repaired.  
"It all adds up now!" He exclaims. "The connected emotions; his mother is a head case, and probably puts him through so much. When she saw us talking after practice, she, s-she lost it. How do you know her? How?" Now he knows they can't keep the truth from him anymore, as well as Cynthia. Cyrus knows it was more than Janet disliking that her son was interacting with the child of her rival. It was homophobia, and still is.  
"It started when we were your age, honey-"  
But Cynthia's already being interrupted by the buzzing of Cyrus's phone.  
**Are you okay?** Jonah had texted with the phone he managed to sneak back.  
His heart practically drops into his stomach.  
**Why would you be asking me that...** Cyrus's hands shake while he responds.  
**Because I think I know what's going on.**  
Cyrus is going to end this while still starting something entirely new once and for all.  
**Meet me on the field tonight at seven sharp.**  
It takes a few moments for Jonah to respond.  
**I'll be there.**  
He erases the texts and puts his phone back where Janet was keeping it, before she can exit the shower and find out what's going to take place.  
She can't control him anymore.

On his way out through the dark lit and empty kitchen, Jonah manages to steal the money back that Janet had taken from Amber's purse discreetly as possible, putting it in his right pants pocket.  
She's upstairs asleep in her bed, and if timing works out, she still should be when he arrives back.  
Speaking of arriving back, Stephen Beck walks through the door, having his son jump.  
" _Dad!_ " He whispers, surprised to see him home from his business trip.  
"Hey, buddy..." he whispers, hugging him back when Jonah gestures a tight embrace.  
"I'm glad you're home" he whispers, stepping away and keeping his gaze.  
"Me too. Where you off to?" He can tell he's heading somewhere.  
Caught unintentionally, Jonah blushes. "Uh...I'm off to see my soulmate."  
They both know he doesn't mean Amber.  
"Cyrus?" Stephen says his name, and Jonah perks up.  
A long pause ensues.  
"Why would you guys _do_ that to me Dad? Why?" He sees the shamed hurt in Stephen's eyes. "It wasn't my idea, Jonah. I promise you. Your mother is a very stubborn woman."  
"How do you know about Cyrus...?"  
"How do _you_ know about Cyrus?"  
"He joined the frisbee team..."  
"So the Goodmans are here?"  
"How do you and Mom _know_ them?" He might just cry from being so overwhelmed.  
Stephen sighs. "Your mother and Cynthia Goodman were inseparable in high school. They stayed in each other's lives, and you and Cyrus were born in the same year. Eventually, they both discovered you and Cyrus had the same mark."  
"Oh my _God_. O-on our backs?" Jonah assumes.  
"That was a lie too, Jonah...The mark isn't on your back..."  
"Why would she lie about where my _mark_ is?"  
"Just in case something like _this_ happened. When we moved here, Janet threatened Cynthia and her husband. She wanted to keep you and Cyrus apart."  
Jonah wipes away broken-hearted tears. "How could she _do_ this? How could you _let_ her?"  
"I'm not her soulmate, Jonah."  
" _What?_ "  
"Listen...It's complicated." He walks over and touches his shoulders.  
"We met in college. She doesn't have a soulmate, but had always wanted a child. Despite me still having one of my own, she asked me to marry her and help her have you, as long as I got to continue seeing my own soulmate."  
"Who is _she?_ " He's crying again.  
"She's a great woman named Sheila all the way in Florida. She lived in Arizona the same time as us, and I had to explain to her the deal I had with your mother. We worked things out, and I've been visiting her ever since Mom was pregnant with you. She demanded that Sheila move far away so you would never put two and two together."  
"Oh my God...S-so that's it, they both knew this _entire_ time?"  
"Yes. Sheila knows Mom isn't a good person, Jonah. And I know you do too."  
"So _that's_ where you've been all this time, instead of business trips and meetings...Leaving me with _her?_ _Knowing_ she's always been trying to keep me and Cyrus apart?"  
Jonah knew that things were complicated; he just didn't know that things were this complicated.  
"Jonah we can leave her. I'll take you to Florida with me and you can meet Sheila-"  
"I can't leave _now_ , Dad! I could've known Cyrus _years_ ago and I _just_ got to meet him! Speaking of that, I-I got to go. I can't deal with this right now."  
"Jonah" he's alerted once he opens the door.  
He gazes at Stephen with broken eyes.  
"I love you."  
"I love you too, Dad."  
Jonah officially leaves the house, and Stephen knows he has some things to settle out with the woman he won't be married to for much longer.

Cyrus has been waiting for almost thirty minutes, when Jonah finally makes his way up to him on the hundred foot field, the Sears's within the black sky being their only light.  
"Hi. Sorry I'm late, my Dad came back and things got complicated. He's gonna cover for me."  
"Oh that's okay," Cyrus smiles anyway.  
After they smile at each other for what seems like forever, he finally feels the need to start things out.  
"Uh, see that?" He points to the line on his calf.  
"I always thought that was my mark. It was a mark, a stretch mark." He chuckles.  
Jonah laughs at the thought. "My Mom always made me believe _my_ mark was a freckle on my back 'just in case I met you.'" Jonah's eyes roll at her entire plan.  
" _Yikes..."_ Cyrus cringes.  
"And get this. She was paying the ninth grader daughter of a family she knows, to _pretend_ to be my soulmate when _she_ doesn't even have one."  
"Holy _crap!"_ Cyrus whispers.  
"I know...She's asleep. My Dad told me everything."  
"My Mom told me everything too..."  
"My Dad also told me that my Mom doesn't even _have_ a soulmate. She just wanted a child, and my Dad met his soulmate who's in Florida when my Mom was pregnant with me; did your Mom know about that?"  
"No, she would've mentioned something..."  
"Oh my _God_. So she's been lying to _everyone_." It makes Jonah's stomach twist in knots.  
"Why is your _Dad's_ soulmate in Florida?"  
"Because my Mom made her move there so I wouldn't figure things out. My Dad says he's gonna leave my Mom and wants me to meet the soulmate Sheila. But I'm _not_ leaving you."  
They smile at each other graciously.  
"This whole thing is _crazy_ " Cyrus blurts.  
"I know...Maybe _we're_ crazy." Says Jonah.  
"I don't think we are..." Cyrus touches his hand, and tears almost return to Jonah's eyes.  
"There's _no way_ this _wasn't_ meant to happen" he tells him.  
"Uh, so my Mom told me where my mark really is..." Cyrus admits, tugging on the right shoulder of his shirt.  
Putting two and two together about his own, Jonah laughs and grabs his own.  
"One...Two..."  
" _Three."_ They finish together, and laugh excessively when they reveal the marks on the top front of their right shoulders.  
"Wow..." Cyrus whispers, covering his back up.  
"I know..." Jonah agrees while doing the same. "Uh, I-I'm glad it's you..." he admits.  
"I'm glad it's you too..." Cyrus wipes his tears, and again they're both giggling.  
"So what now?" He asks.  
"I have no idea uh..." Jonah looks around wearily, the fear of his mother getting to him.  
"Hey," Cyrus can sense his anxiety. "It's okay. We can't break apart _now,_ remember?" He squeezes his hand into his own, and for the first time of many they're holding hands.  
"I should get back..." He's informed in a smile. "I _promise_ I'll see you again."  
"You better," Cyrus grins a slight tease, and Jonah initiates the long hug they share.  
Cyrus sprints home in smiles and laughs, and while Jonah doesn't know what he'll be getting into when he arrives back, he knows that having Cyrus will make everything okay.

After parading about how his meet up with Jonah went to his parents, Cyrus is explaining everything about Amber, and about Stephen's secret soulmate to them the middle of their kitchen.  
"Her poor _boy_. _And_ that poor girl," Cynthia is holding her hand to heart with intensity.  
"I always knew _something_ was off when it came to their marriage," Damon is talking about Jonah's parents. "That woman is _manipulative_ and needs to be left behind."  
"B-but I don't _want_ Jonah to leave. The reason you even _brought_ me here was so that I'd _meet_ him!" Cyrus just might cry again.  
"Well maybe Stephen can bring Sheila down here and-" Cynthia is suggesting, when a blinding pain is sending Cyrus to the ground.  
" _Cyrus!_ " She yells, over his loud cries and yells of extreme pain.  
"S-something's _happening...!_ To _Jonah!"_ That has to be the only explanation, and the pain he's experiencing is only doubling in numbers.  
The only thing worse than that is knowing that Jonah is going through his own personal hell, and it's no question to who's causing it.

Later on when the physical pain has been gone for almost thirty minutes now, the psychological anxiety for Cyrus hasn't stopped; having him frantically trying to contact Jonah to find out if he's okay and if Janet had hurt him.  
While her son is pacing circles around the same room and is needing to repeatedly use his inhaler, Cynthia receives a call from a familiar number on her cellphone.  
"Hello...?"  
"Hi Cynthia...It's Stephen."  
She hasn't heard his voice in years.

About an hour later, Cyrus is practically slipping down the hospital hallway on his way to Jonah's rented room, bursting through the door and lighting up at the sight of Jonah awaiting for him in his bed, but darkening at the face and body injuries that make him almost unrecognizable.  
"Cyrus!" He coughs out with a smile. "Y-you're here..."  
"Yeah, y-your Dad called my Mom about what happened. I kinda felt it too, so..." He chuckles grimly.  
"I'm sorry," Jonah's apologizing as Cyrus makes his way closer.  
" _You're_ sorry? _You're_ the one that actually got _beaten_. You-you don't deserve _any_ of this..." Cyrus helps him scoot over so he can sit down beside him.  
"It's okay...It's over now," Jonah likes the closeness of Cyrus sitting right next to him. "My Dad called the cops. My Mom has her hearing tomorrow, and no doubt he's gonna get custody."  
"That's _great,_ " Cyrus takes hurting hand. "Y-you're not going to Florida, are you?" He hopes.  
"My Dad called Sheila. She's gonna move over here. Turns out she's pregnant, too." Jonah's smile could move mountains.  
"That's _great_. Well I-I'm _ecstatic_ that you won't have to be dealing with your Mom anymore."  
"Same here. No more frisbee." Jonah chuckles.  
"I thought you loved frisbee!" Cyrus's confused.  
"Only with you..." Jonah has the other boy smile.  
" _Really?_ " Cyrus gawks.  
"Yeah, m-my Mom's always forced me into it. But today I've realized that you make me see the good in all the bad things out there." Jonah peeks a smile.  
"Because frisbee is so atrocious?" Cyrus laughs.  
It hurts for Jonah to laugh, but it's still no doubt worth it.  
"W-what you just said is really true?" Cyrus still can't believe it.  
"Of _course._ You're _amazing,_ Cyrus. You're docuous mogocious."  
The boys laugh even harder this time, and Jonah leans on the other boy's shoulder.  
"I'm so happy you're here..." He expresses.  
"Of course I am," Cyrus looks at him.  
"You're my soulmate."  
Neither of them would have it any other way.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed <3  
> The next fic will be a simple getting together story and I promise it won't be complicated lol


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